Jin’s POV
   Ah, Saturday. A day as welcoming as Sunday after the five torturing days of going to school. And yet, he has to waste one of such precious day to visit his sister Shino. He has seriously considered bailing out on Wakaba, but he knows that it’s not going to work. She will just come to visit him and nags at him like how a mother would until he relents. Best to get this over with as soon as possible.

   He woke up at eight in the morning to prepare breakfast for both himself and Nyri. The dragon has woke up way before he did. Right now, she’s watching the television while sitting on the sofa.

   “Morning…” Jin greets while letting out a yawn.

   “Morning. Aren’t you waking up a bit early today?” she asks without averting her eyes from the TV.

   “I got things to do after this.”

   Nyri grunts and didn’t ask any more questions. She’s probably being too engrossed by the anime that’s being shown on the screen to care. Whatever the reason, Jin is glad as he couldn’t bother to explain. He goes to the kitchen and starts to prepare their meal.

   “Breakfast is ready.” he call once he’s done.

   Nyri grunts again, but refused to move from her sear. Jin sighs and starts eating without her. Even after he was done, she was still glued to her seat.

   “Be sure to eat your food properly, and remember to wash the dishes once you were done eating.” he tells her before he goes back to his room and changes his clothes.

   A third grunt and no further response. Jin decides to stop striking up conversation with her and goes back to his room. After changing his clothes, he leaves his apartment and heads outside.

   While walking on the street and being careful not to bump into anyone, Jin takes out his phone and checks for LINE messages. There’s one from Wakaba sent less than a minute ago.

   “Good morning, Minase-kun. I hope you’re not going to forget that we’re supposed to head to Sanno Hospital together later.” she wrote.

   “Good morning, mother. Of course I remember.” he writes back.

   He received a response a few seconds later. He was bombarded with lots of angry emojis.

   “Just head there first if you’re ready. We’ll be meeting at the entrance of the hospital.” he writes.

   “Alright. I doubt we’ll be there first, though. Esty’s still asleep, anyway, and I might take some time to wake her up.”

   “What does Von Mantus have to do with this?”

   “She insisted on following. She’s probably anxious on meeting her future sister-in-law.”

   Jin could somehow imagine Wakaba grinning from ear to ear when she typed out the second sentence.

   “If she doesn’t wake up, does that mean that I don’t have to visit my sister?”

   “Dream on. I’ll drag you there if I have to.”

   “Aww…”

   The business Jin mentioned involves buying Shino a get-well gift. He remembers that she likes eating the frozen taiyaki with chocolate ice cream filling, so he went to buy one at the nearest convenience store. Once that was done, he goes to the nearest subway station. While no one is looking, he freezes the frozen taiyaki inside a block of ice and stores it inside his Vault to prevent it from melting. There’s another reason, but no point in getting to that right now.

   After a few train stations and a bus trip later, he finally arrives at the Sanno Hospital. Wakaba and Estyshana aren’t here yet, so he had to wait patiently until they arrive. It was almost ten o’clock when they finally did.

   “We’re sorry for being late, Minase-kun.” Wakaba apologizes.

   She’s dragging the half-asleep Estyshana with one hand and holding a basket of fruits in the other.

   Jin waves off her apology. “No worries. I didn’t wait that long anyway. Besides, Von Mantus was probably to blame, anyway.”

   The demon in question lets out a yawn and rubs her eyes with the back of her right hand.

   “Why do we even have to come here this early?” she asks groggily. “It’s not like his sister will run away or something.”

   “Mama Wakaba was the one who wanted to come here at this hour, remember?” Jin reminds her.

   “Gee, thanks Mama Chifuyu.”

  Wakaba’s right eyebrow starts to twitch in anger. She would probably have lost her temper if it wasn’t for the fact that they were standing right in front of a hospital.

   “Let’s just go inside.” she says while suppressing her anger.

   “About time...”

   “Hold on, let me take the lead and talk to the receptionist.”

   Coincidentally, the receptionist on duty is the same one Jin spoke to last night. It’s like no one has come to take over her shift. Judging by the heavy bags under her eyes, Jin highly suspected that that was the case.

   “Good morning. We’re Minase Shino’s classmates. We heard that she was hospitalized. Is it okay if we pay her a visit?” he asks her.

   The receptionist raises her eyebrow.

   “Heard from who or where, exactly?” she asks suspiciously.

   “The news about her being carried here by Silver Wolf himself was all over the internet.” Jin lies smoothly.

   “Fair enough. You can visit her. Room 3740, third floor.”

   “Thank you.”

   Naturally, Jin already knows that. Still, he has to act ignorant for appearance’s sake.

   “What were you going to do if she didn’t buy your lie?” Wakaba asks Jin softly while they were walking down the corridor towards the room.

   Jin shrugs at the question.

   “I’ll cast an invisibility Spell on us, and we’ll just sneak in.”

   “...I’m sorry that I asked.”

   “Hey, you wanted to do this.”

   “I know, I know. Still, we could have done this in a proper way, right?”

   “Yeah, and we would have been forbidden from visiting Shino if we only bothered with using the so-called proper way. Now come on, I want to get this over with already.”

   When they arrived in front of Shino’s room, Jin didn’t bother to knock. He just opened the door and let himself in.

   For obvious reasons, Shino is stuck on her bed. Casts were being put on her right arm, and she’s being wrapped up in lots of bandages. She’s wearing a pink hospital gown that’s one or two sizes too big for her. She looks bored out of her mind like she has been doing nothing but sleeping. Her bored expression didn’t change one bit when she saw Jin.

   “Oh joy, if it isn’t the very person who got me sent here in the first place.” she mutters.

   “Nice seeing you too.” he says drily.

   Jin proceeds to step inside the room like he owns the place. Wakaba and Estyshana follow suit, with the former a bit nervously and the latter groggily. Upon seeing them, Shino finally changed her expression to something akin to a surprised one.

   “Who’re they?” she asks Jin.

   “My classmates.”

   “Well, judging by the fact that they’re here with you, it’s safe to assume that they know about your secret identity, right?”

   “Yup.”

   “And everything that happened between us?”

   “I told them pretty much the whole thing.”

   “Good. I don’t have to be mindful of my words, then.”

   Wakaba bows at Shino.

   “My name is Wakaba Chifuyu. Nice to meet you.” she introduces herself.

   Shino nods at her politely. “Hello there.”

   Shino looks curiously at Estyshana. The demon is miraculously wide awake despite the fact that she looked like she was about to pass out any second just moments ago.

   “I am Estyshana Von Mantus. Good morning to you and pleased to make your acquaintance.” Estyshana says formally.

   “Why are you being nervous?” Jin couldn’t help but ask.

   “Am not.”

   “Yes, you are. You always talk formally whenever you’re being nervous.”

   Estyshana glares at him. “You didn’t have to say that!”

   “Too late.”

   Shino looks at Jin, then at Estyshana, then at Wakaba.

   “These two have a complicated relationship, don’t they?” she asks her.

   Wakaba smiles sadly at that.

   “You can say that.”

   In an attempt to change the subject, Wakaba shows her the fruit basket she brought.

   “This is for you. I figured that it would be rude if we came here empty-handed.” she tells Shino.

   “Thank you. At least someone cares…” Shino says pointedly while looking at Jin.

   Jin makes the frozen taiyaki ice cream appears on the top of his palm.

   “I assume you won’t be wanting this?” he asks.

   Shino’s eyes widen at the sight of the fish-shaped dessert.

   “Is that filled with chocolate?”

   “Sure is.”

   “Oh esteemed elder brother, please forgive my rudeness towards you throughout all those years we have spent together!” she cries.

   Jin rolls his eyes. Even after all these years, she’s still a drama queen whenever she wants something. He walks towards her and drops the block of ice on her lap. She stares at it for a few seconds.

   “...How am I supposed to eat this?” she asks.

   Jin shrugs. “You can wait until it thaws.”

   “And how long will that take?”

   “Hours, maybe. It’s really hard to say.”

   Shino was about to say something when her eyes suddenly widened.

   “Wait a second! You’re just trying to make it look like I wet my bed, aren’t you?” she accuses.

   Jin clicks his tongue. “You and your sharp intuition…”

   “Stop bullying your younger sister, Minase-kun!” Wakaba chides.

   “This isn’t bullying, you know. It’s called being a huge pain.” Jin says innocently.

   “They’re the same thing!”

   “Fine, fine.” Jin grumbles.

   He picks up the block of ice and slightly concentrates. In the blink of an eye, the ice has evaporated, leaving only the taiyaki ice cream within. He hands the confectionery to Shino.

   “Here you go. Enjoy.”

   “Would it kill you to do that right from the start?” she demands as she snatches it away.

   She opens her mouth wide and bites into the taiyaki. She then starts chewing it while looking really blessed.

   “Man, it’s been ages since I’ve eaten one of these…” she mumbles.

   “How are your injuries?” Wakaba asks Shino as she puts the fruit basket on the top of the drawer right next to Shino’s bed.

   “Chould hvave bween worse-” Jin’s younger sister replies between chewing.

   “Don’t talk while your mouth is full.” Jin scolds her.

   “Sworry…” she mumbles.

   The next time she spoke, she made sure she did it after she was done chewing.

   “Could have been worse. The doctor who looked at them said that they might take at least three months to heal.” she continues.

   Wakaba glares at Jin without saying a thing. He stares back impassively.

   “Well? Aren’t you going to apologize?” she demands between gritted teeth.

   “Nope.”

   “Don’t bother, Wakaba-san. He’s stubborn that way.” Shino tells the angered Wakaba with a bored tone.

   “I’ll be sure to lecture him about this.” Wakaba promises.

   “Just like how a mother would…” Jin and Estyshana mumble at the same time.

   Wakaba throws them a murderous glare which they ignore.

   “When your wound is healed, we could team up and try to beat up your brother.” Estyshana suggests to Shino.

   Jin raises his eyebrow. Wow, she sure got out of her nervousness quickly. She throws him a quick “Leave me alone!” look.

   “I would love to. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can use my powers properly anymore.” Shino replies.

   “Why is that?”

   “My ability is being fueled by my hatred for Silver Wolf. Now that I know both him and onii-I mean aniki are the same person, I’ve lost all motivation.” Shino explains.

   To prove her point, she stretches out her left index finger with the back of her hand pointing skyward. A tiny mouth made of shadows appears on it.

   “I kept trying, and this is all I could squeeze out.” she says.

   “Were you about to call me onii-chan just now?” Jin asks.

   Shino glares at him.

   “THAT was the part that bothers you?” she demands.

   “Just do your best to control yourself better next time. The last time you called me that, I almost puked.”

   Shino’s face turns red at once.

   “Forget about that! It was, you know, something I did on reflex after waking up without barely knowing what was happening!”

   “Uh-huh.”

   “I seriously think we’re intruding on this sibling reunion.” Jin hears Estyshana whispering to Wakaba.

   Wakaba chuckles at that. “I’m just glad that they’re getting along now.”

   “Your eyes have gone rotten, Wakaba.” Jin says to her.

   She flashes him an annoying smile. Wow, this must be how Ayumi had been feeling all these time. He really has to stop teasing that shrine maiden from now on in order to avoid karma. Then again, it might already be too late.

   “Say, what happened after I got knocked out by you?” Shino asks curiously.

   Jin told her.

   “Huh. So everyone was rescued.” was all she said.

   “Not everyone. All those who were working at the lab were killed, remember?” Jin reminds her.

   “True. Then again, they’re not really innocent, are they?”

   “True.”

   Wakaba looks at Jin, then at Shino, then back at Jin again.

   “The two of you are siblings all right…” she mumbles.

   “The Minase family is messed up this way.” he informs.

   “Yup, we’re not exactly normal.” Shino agrees.

   “And speaking of killed researchers, is it true that Bouchard is dead?” Jin continues with his questioning.

   “That’s what his employees had been saying. I can’t say for sure since I didn’t see his corpse.”

   “So he might still be alive. Fantastic…” Jin mumbles. “Hold on. You mentioned his employees. You mean those that are dead?”

   “Yup. I mean, almost everything happened at one go. I was being poked with needles when one researcher came charging inside the room I was in and told her colleagues that their boss is dead. Before the said colleagues could even react, that Graylock guy appeared out of nowhere and murdered them all.”

   “Did he say or do anything at all to you?”

   “He told me that all of us lab rats are to stay here until Silver Wolf shows up. Didn’t do anything to me, though.”

   “But he told you to fight me.”

   “Nuh-uh, I volunteered for it. I was so filled with blind hatred for you that I wanted to fight you the first chance I get.”

   “Just for you to have your behind handed to me. Easily.” Jin says dryly.

   Shino growls loudly. “All right all right, no need to rub it in my face like that!”

   “How long ago was this?”

   “I think it was around, um, a week ago? Give or take a day.”

   “One week? How did you deal with the food supply problem?” Wakaba asks while sounding really concerned.

   “Oh, that wasn’t an issue at all. They had lots of food and drinks there, and they were even more plentiful after at least a quarter of the people they were meant for kicked it.”

   Upon hearing that, Wakaba lets out a sigh of relief. Then again, most of the test subjects looked like they were suffering from something far worse than hunger before they were rescued. Not that she has to know that.

   “Say, did you manage to talk to any of the demons while they were there?” Estyshana asks all of a sudden.

   “More like one of them talked to me. He was real chatty.”

   Jin and Estyshana look at each other. They then nod.

   “An acquaintance of yours, I assume?” Shino asks.

   “Yup, an acquaintance who’s supposed to be dead.” Estyshana replies. “Anyway, what did he say?”

   “He said that he found this world really interesting, what with its technology, blah blah blah…I can barely remember a thing since he talked quite a lot.”

   She pauses.

   “He did mention that he loves to go swimming at Niagara Falls every once in a while.”

   “Niagara Falls? As in the waterfall?” Wakaba asks.

   “That reminds me, I first encountered him while he was swimming in a river.” Jin recalls. “What’s with him and swimming anyway?”

   That last part was directed at Estyshana. The demon merely shrugs at the question.

   “He wanted to be born as a fish demon, but couldn’t. Going swimming is his way of compensating.”

   “Well, at least now we know where he might be.”

   “Does that mean you’ll fight someone close to you again, Esty?” Wakaba asks while looking really concerned.

   “Don’t worry, Chifuyu. I’ll just be doing what I have to do.” Estyshana assures her.

   “It’s still cruel nonetheless. And you might get hurt too.”

   “No worries. I can take care of him just fine.”

   Jin wonders about that. That demon’s Bloodline Magic is particularly tough to handle. The last time the two of them fought each other, Jin barely got out alive.

   “Are you guys going to leave now?” Shino asks them.

   “Yup. Boo hoo, I have to cut short this visit. And to think I wanted to spend more time with my dear younger sister.” Jin says drily.

   “Don’t bother saying something that you don’t mean.”

   “You got me.”

   “Come on, let’s get going already!” Estyshana tells him impatiently while opening up a portal with her right index finger.

   “Hold your horses. We need to leave this place normally first, or those people who saw us coming in will be suspicious.”

   Estyshana rolls her eyes and puts down her right hand. “...Fine.”

   Jin looks at Wakaba.

   “Can you stay here and accompany Shino for a little while longer, Wakaba?” he requests.

   Wakaba grins mischievously.

   “Sure, caring onii-chan.”

   Jin decides to ignore that and follows Estyshana to exit the room.